Conflation Confrontation

Credit to Henry Hustava (@enzo74) on unsplash

The thing I love most about fantasy is that it doesn’t rely on realism. That’s the whole point of it, actually. Yet, there’s this odd notion on the rise — especially on social media — that fantasy should include historical accuracy. 

This is not entirely untrue. If someone writes a fantasy story based around historical events, that does call for accuracy! Even a reference to something historical should be checked. But there seems to be this idea that any western, medieval-style fantasy needs to be historically accurate. However, there are a few problems with this conflation of historical fiction and fantasy. 

Here are the main ones: 

1. Fantasy does not rely on realism 

   Yes, I’m already repeating myself. This one, defining feature of fantasy basically nixes the historical accuracy argument. Since fans of fantasy — the ones who tend to bring it up — should know this tidbit about the genre, the argument shouldn’t even exist. 

   Unfortunately, there’s a very simple reason it still does. 

2. This claim is almost never actually about historical accuracy

   Which means it isn’t even a conflation! This argument is almost always about exclusion. And I’m not talking about casts and characters that aren’t diverse. I’m talking about the ridiculous amount of gatekeeping done by fans. Or, more accurately (ha), done by straight, cis, white, male fans. 

   Often, when people make the argument about historical accuracy, it’s in relation to:

   • The presence of women

   • The presence of people of colour 

   • The presence of LGBTQ+ people

   Of course, the reality is that these arguments are made to excuse misogyny, racism, and homo- and transphobia in media. 

Misogyny 

Credit to New Line Cinema’s The Lord of the rings: the two towers

Regarding misogyny, things for women are way better now than they were in oh, say, medieval Europe. Women didn’t even exist back then! 

… Just kidding. But this is, essentially, an argument that is pushed by exclusionists. They’ll explode at the sight of a woman doing “something they didn’t do back then!” which encapsulates just about everything that makes fantasy, well, fantasy. 

The counterpoint to this is simple. Women were not invisible in medieval times. They did types of work that was typically considered “men’s work” such as helping run businesses and bringing in the yearly harvest. If a woman could do that, she could probably do anything else a man could, too — like take up a sword.

Racism

The simple answer for this one is that the claim of there being no people of colour in medieval western Europe is that it’s factually incorrect. 

There are public records, called pipe rolls, that detail black people and people from western Asia living in medieval England. If the requirement for people of colour to be in fantasy stories is that they had to live in western Europe for a fact, they get a pass! 

Homo- and Transphobia 

Lots of ‘phobes think that LGBTQ+ identities are some new-fangled thing. They’re not, of course. What’s new is that LGBTQ+ people are less afraid to be themselves and have access to widely-used labels.

Homosexuality existed in plenty of cultures around the world beyond and before medieval Europe. The book The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is all about the romantic relationship between the Greek mythological figures Achilles and Patroclus. The nature of their relationship was not an assumption made by Miller. 

She traces the original idea back to the famous Greek philosopher Plato. He was estimated to have lived between 428 and 347 B.C.E, where medieval times are commonly believed to have started around 476 C.E. Here’s a graph to emphasize the time difference: 

Credit to Artoba tours (artobatours.com)

If that’s not enough, here are some lovely calculated statistics about how many transgender and intersex people would have been alive during 14th century France. 

I’m just going to throw this out there one more time for good measure.

Fantasy does not rely on realism. 

What is and isn’t true in a fantasy story is entirely up to the creator. If they want to write something historically accurate, there’s nothing wrong with that! But at the end of the day, fantasy is not history. To use the defence of “historical accuracy” to push a bigoted agenda is well and truly vile. It’s my sincere hope that I live to see the day when fantasy is a space that warmly welcomes us all. 

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Simona Casale

Simona is an aspiring editor and fiction author. In her free time she like to crochet, play video games, and read fanfiction. If you need to find her, check the nearest restaurant that serves ahi tuna bowls — look for the girl in pink.

Grudge Against the Gritty

credit to d_poltoradnev on pixabay

Most people, whether they know it or not, are familiar with gritty fantasy. It’s been on the rise in popular media for several years. Despite the name, I’m a bit skeptical if works in this sub-genre deserve to be part of fantasy at all.

Why?

Awe is critical in fantasy. Awe is the way I felt when I saw the Balrog in the Lord of the Rings the first time around. It’s the way I feel watching Hiccup and Toothless fly together in How to Train Your Dragon. It was seeing all the creatures in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. 

The awe factor is a huge draw in the fantasy genre. Gritty fantasy is hallmarked by realism, a fair amount of violence and very little magic. These combine into a perfect storm. If the creator is not careful, the awe — the very core of fantasy itself — can be sucked out of the story. 

Realism 

Now, when I think of a fantasy story, the last thing that comes to mind is realism. Even in fantasy stories set in the modern day, the focus isn’t usually on that aspect. Fantasy is supposed to be an escape from a person's every-day life. I want to see things that are incredible and new and amazing. I want to be wowed! But in gritty fantasy, I find the only thing that “wows” me is the… 

Violence 

I’m not against violence in fiction. I think it actually makes for great catharsis — and, apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks so. However, it’s not necessarily what people look for in fantasy. 

Usually, people expect sword fights, battles with terrible creatures or even a good, old-fashioned tavern brawl. Gritty fantasy lends itself more towards violence for the sake of violence, and that gets old no matter the genre. 

If the violence overshadows everything else, there’s no room for awe. Or, worse than that, the reader/viewer may lose interest to the point where there’s no joy when the awe factor is finally presented. Sometimes, creators can tie the violence in, though, by using… 

Magic

Unfortunately, gritty fantasy tends to have a lack of magic, as I mentioned before. Magic is a ridiculously useful plot device, as I touched on in my last post. Because it can pretty much do anything — with proper integration, explanation and set-up, of course — it’s very easy to create awe. It’s also a rather traditional part of fantasy and tends to be something audiences look for due to its familiarity. 

In many cases, fantasy creatures are also tied into magic. And, you guessed it, they also make for great awe moments. Though this is not always the case, eliminating or downplaying magic can cause difficulty including creatures. 

Removing both these aspects not only seems like a strike against the fantasy genre, but an unnecessary loss on the part of the author. 

But It’s Still Fantasy!

a poster for netflix’s the witcher

Yes, I suppose it is. But maintaining the sense of awe in fantasy is important, and there’s no reason it can’t be done. The Witcher — a book series by Andrzej Sapkowski that's now available as a show on Netflix — is an excellent example. It uses the defining characteristics of fantasy to create awe!

Maybe I’m biased. I strongly dislike realistic fiction. I live in the real world every single day, and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. It’s these beautiful awe-moments that pull me out of my head. They let me have moments where I am living in that story, in that reality. 

In my opinion, being able to create awe is a trait of a successful fantasy writer, no matter what sub-genre they choose to work in.

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Simona Casale

Simona is an aspiring editor and fiction author. In her free time she like to crochet, play video games, and read fanfiction. If you need to find her, check the nearest restaurant that serves ahi tuna bowls — look for the girl in pink.

No Tech in Fantasy = System Glitch

credit to @nasa on unsplash

The lack of technology in fantasy stories has always puzzled me. I’m not talking about fantasy stories that take place in a modern-society setting, since they tend to have things like cars, trains, computers and cell phones. I’m talking about fantasy stories set in medieval-esque times, which avoid technology like the plague. 

First, I feel it’s important to reiterate that technology doesn’t just mean machinery, but also the things we can do because of machinery. Things like organ transplants and staying connected with others. To me, it seems like it wouldn’t be difficult to include these things in fantasy. 

Magic is the perfect excuse to have literally whatever you want going on in a fantasy story. And yes, this includes things that are considered science. To quote the late Arthur C. Clarke: 

“Magic is just science we don’t understand yet.” 

Let’s run with an example I gave before. Does a character need an organ transplant or some other life-saving, life-changing medical procedure? Explain it away with magic. If there’s any sort of water magic in a fantasy setting, it could be used on blood — almost half of total blood volume is water!

If a spell could be used to stop a flood, it could also be used to stop internal bleeding. In fact, it would probably take up less magical energy, too. A mage or wizard would probably be able to do it for a prolonged amount of time. Think bloodbending from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but less creepy and, you know, used for good. 

Or if that organ needs to be put on ice, use some ice magic! With enough set-up that these kinds of spells aren’t whipped out as a convenient plot device at the exact moment they’re needed, there’s no reason this wouldn’t work. 

a movie poster for studio ghibli’s howl’s moving castle

Of course, magic isn’t the only option, either. Deals with demons or devils are perfect, too. In the Studio Ghibli movie Howl’s Moving Castle, Howl has, well, a moving castle. It looks like a giant machine. When I first saw the movie, that’s what I thought it was. Later, I learned the castle was actually being controlled by Calcifer, a fire demon that Howl made a deal with. 

If Howl could do that, why didn’t Frodo make a deal with a demon for a first-class flight to Mordor? Ah, so many missed opportunities. 

But to get back on track, there’s one other way I can think of to include technology besides magic and demons — just don’t explain it. It’s fantasy. It’s fiction. The audience doesn’t need an explanation for everything. 

“The machine” from 20th century Fox’s The princess bride

An example of this that comes to mind is in the movie The Princess Bride. One character, Wesley, is kidnapped and hooked up to a torture device aptly named “The Machine.” It’s shown to be run by a water wheel, some bellows and a very impressive array of gears. 

Despite these lovely visuals, how The Machine actually drains years of life from a victim is never elaborated on. I never even realized this until I started to write this post, and I find that not knowing doesn’t bother me at all. I saw the way that it worked, and that’s good enough. The rest is part of the mystery of the fantasy genre. And really, isn’t that all part of the fun? 

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Simona Casale

Simona is an aspiring editor and fiction author. In her free time she like to crochet, play video games, and read fanfiction. If you need to find her, check the nearest restaurant that serves ahi tuna bowls — look for the girl in pink.

Inspiration Nation

Look beyond what you know, yet within something familiar…

Credit to @lingchor on unsplash

Fantasy. The word alone is enough to conjure images of dragons, castles, royalty and magic. But what do these things look like in your mind? For me, the way I imagine all these things are heavily influenced by medieval western Europe. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se. But it can trap artists and audiences alike in a box.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of the castles, the typical four-legged, two-winged dragons and the magical abilities with vague guidelines. However, sometimes it feels stale. It’s the same thing, over and over, plugged into different stories with almost no new ideas or variation.

Which begs the question — why? What’s keeping authors from branching out?

I think it’s a particularly disheartening combination of (a) safety in what you know and (b) a lack of inspiration. As a writer myself, I constantly wonder what I can put out into the world that isn’t already there. What opened my eyes to new possibilities in fantasy, though, was fantasy.

Fantasy from another culture.

In the last few years, I was introduced to a certain brand of Chinese fantasy called xianxia. It was so refreshing because it presents fantasy in a different way than what I’m used to. Some aspects even seem un-fantasy-like, while other parts are familiar. This trailer for The Untamed, which is available on Netflix, gives a taste of the genre: 

Credit to Tencent Video on YouTube

After seeing some of the fantasy elements present in xianxia that aren’t like those in western fantasy, I was struck by the realization that it’s easier to break out of the box than I thought. It isn’t even as complex as coming up with entirely new rules or ideas. Things we already know can be repurposed.

In xianxia, stories centre around people called Cultivators, who are working to increase their qi — I’ll simplify this to the energy in all living things — and eventually become powerful, immortal beings. Plenty of myths from various cultures have stories about people who desire immortality and power, and xianxia draws inspiration from Chinese mythology.

However, the cultivation was new. Xianxia is also inspired by Chinese spiritual practices and martial arts. So, to cultivate, characters often meditate and, you guessed it, practice martial arts. Looking at it now, it seems like such an easy thing to come up with — having characters grow their magical abilities through another, non-magical practice.

But that’s not all. As Cultivators become stronger, they also tend to maintain youthful looks, gain incredible power and have enhanced resilience and rapid healing. These last three abilities sound more like something out of a superhero story, yet they are an important part of xianxia fantasy.

These ideas aren’t new, outlandish, or wildly inventive. What drew me in was how, through learning about another culture’s representation of fantasy, it’s easy to see that fantasy has less limits than I thought. Creating change can be as simple as looking at something familiar from a different angle.

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Simona Casale

Simona is an aspiring editor and fiction author. In her free time she like to crochet, play video games, and read fanfiction. If you need to find her, check the nearest restaurant that serves ahi tuna bowls — look for the girl in pink.